FROM BRITTLIV, HERE’S A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE GRAND PRIZE ENRTY: the Heating things up is one of the most performed tasks in a lab. Quite a lot of times it is not enough to simply hold something at a certain temperature, but the rate at which something is heated and for how long is just as important. Especially when you try to develop catalysts for chemical processes, the temperature program and exact temperature control is crucial and you probably do not want to stay in the lab for 16 hours to manually adapt your temperature program. Unfortunately, programmable temperature controllers that can automate processes are really expensive. So I decided to build a highly customizable controller that is able to run temperature ramps and read multiple different temperature programs from a SD card. It also provides a logging function on the SD card that allows you to evaluate the resulting temperature profile after running a program.It is a great hack for your heating devices, since it can be easily connected to almost any heating apparatus you can think of, as long as it allows you to also connect a thermocouple. So If you have ever thought about building the perfect electric kiln (there are multiple really good explanations online) or hot plate (take a look at the steps 6 and 7), now is your time.Overall the controller should cost you about $45 and the hot plate about $55. You should easily be able to build this as a weekend project.

Thank you for all of your awesome submissions to BUILD MY LAB! Stay connected with us – we’d love to work with you on design upgrades, future lab equipment projects, and community outreach! The Tekla Labs Team teklalabs@teklalabs.org

Tekla Labs is excited to partner with the Center for Emerging & Neglected Diseases at UC Berkeley for this hybrid Maker – Academia event!

The Diagnostics by Design hackathon is a cross-communities effort to bridge the gap between makers and do-it-yourself innovators and the sphere of global health. The event is posed as a challenge to participants: with minimal materials or through innovative coding, tackle a technological or informatic need in the space of point of care diagnostics. These can range from generating DIY lab equipment alternatives for medical clinics with limited resources, informatics for disease monitoring, or redesign of diagnostic tools for resource-limited settings.

Makers will work together with academics and professionals, to interface diverse skills, perspectives and experiences in technical innovation, needs assessments and field knowledge. We will not only explore, but get hands on experience with pressing health and design needs.

The hackathon is Sat Jan 11-Sun Jan 12. (Dont be fooled by the Eventbrite , which only shows the Saturday date!); The $15 registration covers participation and meals for both days. Sign up here.

Schedule of Events

Saturday (Invention Lab, Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley)

9:00-9:30 Opening remarks and brief overview of logistics

9:30-9:00 pm Open building time (all equipment in the Invention Lab is available for use; Hackathon organizers will be available to run jobs on the 3D printers, laser cutters, mills and lathes for each Hackathon team)

Hear about Tekla Labs and other efforts in citizen science on Wednesday, November 20 from 1-5 PM EST. If you happen to live in DC, you can attend in person - more practically may be to view the live stream or follow the event on twitter, @STIPCommonsLab and #CirSci! Learn more here and make sure to check out the other great work from the Commons Lab at the Woodrow Wilson international Center for Scholars.

~30 days to go, 100 submissions already made! (Thanks, everyone!!!) Add your idea to the mix for a chance to win cool prizes, including a 3D printer, mini mill, dremel kit, or open source PCR kit, and more!

To see the instructions for the awesome submission already made, or to submit you ideas for DIY lab equipment designs or simple lab hacks that make life in the laboratory easier, go to our competition page at: http://www.instructables.com/contest/buildmylab.

Prizes Get started now to contribute to Global Science! There’s also over $5000 in prizes! A mini mill, oscilloscope, Dremel and Arduino kits and more are all up for grabs!

We also will be giving away two special judges’ prizes: 1) Build Their Lab: Design an Instructable for building a piece of laboratory equipment that REAL scientists we have surveyed need for their research, and help them Build Their Lab! 2) Lab Hacks: Do you have simple solutions to common challenges around the lab? Did you 3D print a pipette holder for your bench? Help make life in lab easier and safer for everyone by submitting your own Lab Hacks!

Not ready for DIY contributions? Here are a few easy ways to help:

1. Tell your networks about Build My Lab (we’re happy to give you materials). We want to reach out to design & capstone classes, maker spaces, tech shops, research labs and more. 2. Stay in touch and show your support by signing up to be a member to this site or follow us on twitter @teklalabs.org.

Stay tuned for a new DIY lab competition that we are launching later this August: BuildMyLab! Help us add to the online library of both high quality, easy-to-follow DIY equipment designs and clever, quick ’lab hack’ solutions that ease life in the lab.

Instructables, the online platform to ”explore, document, and share your DIY creations” is hosting Tekla Labs’ upcoming BuildMyLab contest – and there’s some $5000 in prizes waiting to be claimed!

To be kept in the loop on the contest launch, send us a note under home/contact. More soon/ the Tekla Labs team

We’re working on a new, easier to use online platform for submitting, improving and simply just building with DIY lab equipment instructions. Check out the new Tekla Labs Guide Repository menu tab or go straight to guides.teklalabs.org.

More to updates to come, but for now, email us to get involved or go ahead and get started with a guide on the awesome new online system!

For the design, see the DIY section of teklalabs.org. The blurb below is courtesy of the spring 2012 issue of Berkeley Engineer, a magazine from the College of Engineering at the University of California Berkeley.